Automatic vending system

ABSTRACT

An automatic vending system in which cards having predetermined monetary values accorded thereto are utilized to purchase an article or service. The system comprises, in combination, a card issuance control device, an article dispensation control device and a card-to-cash conversion control device. By presenting a desired amount of money to the system, the customer may obtain a card having the corresponding monetary value accorded thereto. The owner of a card may obtain an article or service by using the card in the system. When a purchase has been made, the price of the article purchased is subtracted from the monetary value the card had prior to the purchase, and the resultant new monetary value is written on the card in place of the original monetary value thereof. The owner of a card may at any time have the card converted to cash corresponding to the monetary value the card then has.

United States Patent Yamamoto et a1.

[451 Apr. 4, 1972 [54] AUTOMATIC VENDING SYSTEM [72] Inventors: MititakaYamamoto; Masanori Nagata,

211 Appl. No.: 865,082

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 14, 1968 Japan ..43/74886Enikeieff et al. 194/4 R Gomez et a1. 194/4 R Primary Examiner-Samuel F.Coleman Attorney-Christensen & Sanborn ABSTRACT An automatic vendingsystem in which cards having predetermined monetary values accordedthereto are utilized to purchase an article or service. The systemcomprises, in combination, a card issuance control device, an articledispensation control device and a card-to-cash conversion controldevice. By presenting a desired amount of money to the system, thecustomer may obtain a card having the cor- [52] U.S. Cl... respondingmonetary value accorded thereto. The owner of a [51] Int. Cl. (;07[1/06card may obtain an article or service by using the card in the [58]Field of Search 194/4 Systemwhen a Purchase has been made, the Price ofthe article purchased is subtracted from the monetary value the card 5References Cited had prior to the purchase, and the resultant newmonetary value is written on the card in place of the original monetaryUNITED STATES PATENTS value thereof. The owner of a card may at any timehave the card converted to cash corresponding to the monetary value1,976,585 10/1934 Tauschek 194/4 R the card then 2,783,865 3/1957 Cleave...194/4 R 2,794,869 6/ 1957 Noregaard 1 94/4 R 3 Claims, 4 DrawingFigures lFf/'lf O/SPfNSAWfi/V Q5 74 ea u aw 3 m 761N555? 26 Plume A ril4, 1972 2 Shoots-Shoot 1 Patented April 4, 1972 2 Shuts-Shut 2 QQNYQGSQQNYEQAW WQKWGNQT AUTOMATIC VENDING SYSTEM This invention relates to anautomatic vending system in which cards having predetermined monetaryvalues accorded thereto are used to buy articles or service.

Known automatic vending machines may be classified into two types. Oneis that in which credit cards are used and the other islthat in whichcoins or tokens are used. In the former type, articles can be purchasedon credit, so that users of the machine are very likely to buy morearticles than they actually need. This is very uneconomical. In thelatter type, the user of the machine must have coins or tokens at hand.This is quite inconvenient. If cards are accorded monetary values sothat theycan be used in the machine for purchase of an article orservice the monetary value of which does not exceed that of the cardused, it would be more economical and convenient to the users of themachine.

Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provide anautomatic vending system in which cards having predetermined monetaryvalues given thereto are used to purchase articles or service.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic vendingsystem which is provided with a card issuance control device, an articledispensation control device and a card-tocash conversion control device.The article dispensation control device performs not only the originalfunction of dispensing articles but also the additional function ofchanging the monetary value of the card. When a card is used in thevending machine to purchase an article therefrom, the price of thearticle is subtracted from the value of the card used, so that themonetary value of the card is rewritten so as to have a new valuecorresponding to the result of the subtraction.

The card issuance control device functions so that when a customerintroduces money into the machine, a card having a monetary valuecorresponding to the money introduced is handed .to the customer.

The card-towash conversion control device functions so that when theowner of a card presents the card to the machine, cash moneycorresponding to the monetary value of the card is returned to the ownerin exchange for the card.

As the owner of a card uses the card to purchase articles or service,the monetary value of the card decreases until the remaining value is nolonger sufficient to purchase an article or service. Sometimes the ownerof a card may wish to have cash. lnsuch cases, it would be veryconvenient to have cash corresponding to the monetary value of the cardreturned to the owner.

The invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. [is a block diagram showing the general layout of the system of theinvention;

FIG. is a block diagram of the card issuance control device included inthe system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the article dispensation control deviceincluded in the system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the card-to-cash conversion control devicein the system of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an automatic vending systemcomprising a card issuance control device 11, an article dispensationcontrol device 12 and a card-to-cash conversion control device 13. Thecard issuance control device 11 includes a register 21 which stores thevalue of the money a customer offers and the identification number ofthe customer. The device magnetically records the stored moneta ry valueand identification number of the customer and then issues that card tothe customer. The card will be used in the system to control the articledispensation control device 12 or the card-to-cash conversion controldevice 13. The monetary value and the identification number stored inthe register 21 are transferred by a transfer circuit 22 to a recorder14, wherein a receiving circuit 23 receives the signal from the circuit22 and the output from the circuit 23 is applied to a register 24 to betemporarily stored therein. The contents in the register 24 areconverted by an encoder 25 to a suitable code,

which is applied to a puncher 26. The puncher 26 punches a suitable tapeto record thereon the input information received from the circuit 25.

In the above description, the card is automatically prepared and issuedto the customer. The operation may be manually performed, if desired.The recorder 14 may be eliminated if there is no need for obtaining thetotal of the sales made and other information for statistical purposes.

The article dispensation control circuit 12 is annexed to an automaticvending machine of a known suitable type, not shown. The circuit 12 notonly controls the article dispensing operation of the machine but alsoperforms the subtraction of the price of the article sold from themonetary value of the card introduced into the machine and rewrites thevalue of the card so that the card now has a new value corresponding tothe result of the subtraction, and then returns the card to its owner.The article dispensation control device 12 includes a register 27 whichstores the result of the subtraction and a register 28 which stores theidentification number of the card. The information stored in theregisters 27 and 28 is applied through an OR circuit 29 and a transfercircuit 30 to the recorder 14 to be recorded therein in the mannerpreviously mentioned.

The card-to-cash conversion control device 13 is annexed to a moneyexchanging machine, not shown, of a similar construction to theabove-mentioned typical automatic vending machine. The money exchangingmachine may be considered as a kind of an automatic vending machine inwhich the article to be dispensed is cash money. The device 13 reads theidentification number and the remaining monetary value of the cardintroduced and dispenses cash in the amount corresponding to themonetary value of the card. The information about the cardidentification number and the card value is stored in a register 31 andthen sent by means of a transfer circuit 32 to the recorder 14 to berecorded in the same manner as previously mentioned.

The information about the issuance of cards, the sales made and theamount of money exchanged may be used for management and statisticalpurposes.

Turning to FIG. 2, which shows a detailed arrangement of the cardissuance control device 11. When a customer wishes to have a card, he orshe presents a required amount of money to the machine. If the money isin the form of coins, they are checked with respect to their genuinenessby a coin checker 41 and if it is in the form of bills, they are checkedby a bill checker 42, so that only proper coins and/or bills areaccepted. The coin and bill checkers may be of any suitable known type.The value of the coins and/or bills that have been accepted is convertedby an encoder 43, 44 to a suitable, say, binary code. The monetary valueof the coins is once stored in a register 46 through an OR circuit 45and then stored in a register 21 through an adder 47 and an OR circuit48. The value of the bills is once stored in the register 46 and thenapplied to the adder 47, which adds this value and the value of thecoins stored in the register 21. The resultant sum is applied throughthe OR circuit 48 to register 21 to be stored therein in place of thevalue previously stored therein. The value stored is numericallyindicated by a suitable indicator 49 of any known type.

A number allotter 50 selects a predetermined card identification number,which is converted by an encoder 51 to a corresponding suitable, say,binary code. The coded number is applied through the OR circuit 48 tothe register 21 to be stored therein. The card identification number isalso indicated by the indicator 49.

The selected card identification number and the monetary value aremagnetically written on a card by a writing head 53. The information tobe written on the card is on the other hand transferred from theregister 21 through the transfer circuit 22 to the recorder 14. When themagnetic writing of the information on the card has been completed, areading head 54 reads the information that has just been written on thecard. The information read is applied through the OR circuit 45 to theregister 46.

A comparator 55 receives the information stored in the register 21 (thatis, the information to be written on the card) and the informationstored in the register 46 (that is, the information that has actuallybeen written on the card) and compares the two informations to see ifthey are identical. If they are, the comparator 55 produces an output ona line 56, which means that the necessary information has been properlyand accurately written on the card. The output on the line 56 is used toactuate a suitable device, not shown, to dispense the card onto thecustomer.

The output on the line 56 is also applied back to the number alloter 50to cause the same to choose a new identification number to be accordedto the next card.

if the above-mentioned two informations do not coincide, the circuit 55produces no output on the line 56. This means that the writing of therequired information on the card has not been properly made, so that nocard will be dispensed.

Turning to FIG. 3, which shows the detailed arrangement of the articledispensation control device 12, when a purchaser puts a card into themachine, a card reading head 61 reads the identification number and themonetary value of the card introduced. The information that has beenread is stored in a register 28. The monetary value of the card storedin the register 28 is numerically indicated on an indicator 62 similarto the previously mentioned indicator 49 on the one hand, and is appliedto a comparator 63 on the other. The comparator 63 compares the value ofthe card and the price of the article to be sold, and if the formervalue is higher than the latter price, the comparator 63 produces anoutput, which causes a signal generator 64 to produce an articledispense signal to operate the article dispensing mechanism of thevending machine. The dispensing operation is quite the same as that ofordinary automatic vending machines. On the contrary, if the monetaryvalue of the card introduced is less than the price of the article to bepurchased, the circuit 64 is not actuated, so that no article isdispensed but the card is simply returned to its owner.

When the purchaser has selected an article, a price setting device 65produces a signal corresponding to the price of the selected article,which is encoded by an encoder 66 and then applied through an OR circuit67 to the register 27 to be stored therein. The monetary value of thecard prior to use, that is, the value stored in the register 28 isapplied to an adder 68, to which the price of the article purchased,that is, the value stored in the register 27 is also applied through acomplementer 69. The adder 68 adds the value of the card and thecomplement of the price of the article. This means that the price of thearticle purchased is subtracted from the monetary value the card thenhas. The result of the subtraction is applied through the OR circuit 67back to the register 27 to be stored therein. The stored value iswritten on the card by means of a writing head 70 in place of themonetary value the card had until then. When this rewriting operation ofthe card value has been completed, the reading head 61 reads the newlywritten value on the card and the value read is stored in the register28. This value stored in the register 28 and the value stored in theregister 27 are compared in a comparator 71. If the two values are foundequal, it means that the rewriting of the card value has been correctlyperformed, so that the comparator 71 produces an output on a line 72,which actuates a suitable mechanism, not shown, to return the card thevalue of which has just been rewritten to its owner. If the two valuesare not equal, it means that the rewriting of the monetary value of thecard has not been correctly performed so that the card is not returned.

The card identification number stored in the register 28 and theremaining monetary value of the card stored in the register 27 areapplied to the recorder 14 through the OR circuit 29 and transfercircuit 30. it would be convenient to transfer and record the price ofthe article sold stored in the register 27.

FIG. 4 shows the detailed arrangement of the card-to-cash conversioncontrol device 13. When a card is presented to the machine for exchangefor cash, a reading head 82 reads the identification numberand themonetary value of the card, and the information read IS stored in aregister 31. The monetary value stored in the register 31 is compared bya comparator 84 with a predetermined value set by an exchange limitsetting device 83. The comparator 84 is so designed that it produces anoutput signal only when the value of the card is less than the presetexchange limit. The output signal is then applied to a decoder 85 whichconverts the coded monetary value of the card to a corresponding amountof money, on the basis of which a cash dispenser 86 dispenses cash moneycorresponding to the value of the card onto the customer. The outputfrom the comparator 84 may be used to actuate a device, not shown, forcollecting the card into the machine so as not to be returned to thecustomer.

When the operation of converting the card to cash has been completed,the information stored in the register 31 is transferred through thetransfer circuit 32 to the recorder 14 to be recorded therein in thesame manner and for the same purpose as previously mentioned.

What we claim is:

1. An automatic vending system comprising, in combination: a cardissuance control device including means for magnetically recording on acard the monetary value corresponding to the value of the moneydeposited in said card issuance control device, means for storing saidmonetary value, means for reading the recorded value of said monetaryvalue, means for comparing said stored value and said recorded value,means for producing an output signal if said recorded value equals saidmonetary value, and means for issuing said card in response to saidoutput signal to said customer; an article dispensation control deviceincluding means for magnetically reading the recorded monetary value ofa card accepted by said article dispensation device, means for comparingsaid monetary value and the price of an article that has been selectedby a customer and producing a signal when said former value is equal toor greater than said latter price, means operable in response to saidsignal to cause said selected article to be dispensed and means operablein response to said signal for magnetically rewriting the value of saidcard so that said card has a rewritten value corresponding to a newvalue equal to the difference between said value that said card hadprior to said purchase and the price of said article; and a card-to-cashconversion control device including means for magnetically reading therecorded monetary value of a card presented thereto, and means fordispensing cash corresponding to the value that has been read by saidlastnamed reading means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said card-to-cash conversioncontrol device further includes means for preventing the cash dispensingoperation of said cash dispensing means when the monetary value of acard presented to said lastnamed control device exceeds a preset value.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said article dispensation controldevice further includes means producing an output signal if saidrewritten value of said card equals said new value, and means responsiveto said output signal for returning the card to the customer.

IIK k

1. An automatic vending system comprising, in combination: a cardissuance control device including means for magnetically recording on acard the monetary value corresponding to the value of the moneydeposited in said card issuance control device, means for storing saidmonetary value, means for reading the recorded value of said monetaryvalue, means for comparing said stored value and said recorded value,means for producing an output signal if said recorded value equals saidmonetary value, and means for issuing said card in response to saidoutput signal to said customer; an article dispensation control deviceincluding means for magneticaLly reading the recorded monetary value ofa card accepted by said article dispensation device, means for comparingsaid monetary value and the price of an article that has been selectedby a customer and producing a signal when said former value is equal toor greater than said latter price, means operable in response to saidsignal to cause said selected article to be dispensed and means operablein response to said signal for magnetically rewriting the value of saidcard so that said card has a rewritten value corresponding to a newvalue equal to the difference between said value that said card hadprior to said purchase and the price of said article; and a card-to-cashconversion control device including means for magnetically reading therecorded monetary value of a card presented thereto, and means fordispensing cash corresponding to the value that has been read by saidlast-named reading means.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidcard-to-cash conversion control device further includes means forpreventing the cash dispensing operation of said cash dispensing meanswhen the monetary value of a card presented to said last-named controldevice exceeds a preset value.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidarticle dispensation control device further includes means producing anoutput signal if said rewritten value of said card equals said newvalue, and means responsive to said output signal for returning the cardto the customer.